KDE is pleased to announce that Plasma Next Beta 1 has been released. Plasma Next is the codename for the new version of our beautiful desktop workspace built on KDE Frameworks 5. It features the same familiar layout you will be used to but with a simplified and more slick look from the new KDE Visual Design Group. For the first time our desktop ships with its own font, the Oxygen Font. Internally much has been rewritten in QML to make it smoother to render and easier to develop. The source has been split into over 20 sources making it easier for distributions to package. We need as many testers as possible to iron out the many bugs we know still exist. Many distributions have started making packages so you can easily test it, listed on the unstable packages wiki page. The easiest way to try it out is to download the Neon5 ISO and boot from it on a USB drive, Neon5 has the latest daily builds of Plasma code. Please test it out and let the Plasma team know what to work on.

More than 50 recorded bugfixes include improvements to Personal Information Management suite Kontact, Umbrello UML Modeller, the Desktop search functionality, web browser Konqueror and the file manager Dolphin. A more complete list of changes can be found in KDE's issue tracker.

KDevelop improves Custom Buildsystem Plugin, and it is now possible to define macros and add include directories/files through GUI and the GUI is always accessible by clicking on Project->Open Configuration

We continue the tradition of having the PIM sprint in a place that starts with a "B". The last 3 PIM sprints were in Berlin (twice) and Brno. The Spring edition of this year took place in Barcelona, continuing the tradition. Add to this the name of the company hosting us which conveniently starts with a "B" as well (BlueSystems).

Akademy is the KDE Community conference. It is where we meet, discuss plans for the future, get inspired, learn and get work done. If you are working on topics relevant to KDE, this is your chance to present your work and ideas at the Conference from September 6-12 in Brno, Czech Republic. The main days for talks are Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th of September. The rest of the week will be BoFs, unconference sessions and workshops.

With a bit more than 10 recorded bugfixes including improvements to Personal Information Management suite Kontact, Umbrello UML Modeller, audio CD listening app Kscd, web browser Konqueror, file manager Dolphin and others the bug count goes down. A more complete list of changes can be found in KDE's issue tracker.

To find out more about the 4.12 versions of KDE Applications and Development Platform, please refer to the 4.12 release notes.